Management system, method, management server, and computer-readable storage medium storing program

ABSTRACT

A printing apparatus management server manages a plurality of printing apparatuses, obtains, in response to a request from a voice device management server, information of a predetermined printing apparatus registered, from the plurality of printing apparatuses, as a printing apparatus to be used in the printing apparatus management server, transmits, to the voice device management server, the obtained information of the predetermined printing apparatus, obtains remaining amount information transmitted from the predetermined printing apparatus, and transmits the obtained remaining amount information to the consumable item management server. Voice notification to a user is performed, via a voice device configured to communicate with the voice device management server, based on the obtained remaining amount information, and processing for placing an order for the consumable item is performed based on a voice instruction from the user accepted by the voice device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a management system, a method, amanagement server, and a computer-readable storage medium storing aprogram.

Description of the Related Art

A voice control system in which a printing apparatus is controlled byvoice is known. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-95984 discloses atechnique that allows print settings such as sheet size settings and thelike, which are operated by a user in a printing process, to beinstructed by voice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a technique that allows an order for aconsumable item, which is used in a printing apparatus registered in asystem, to be placed by a voice instruction.

The present invention in one aspect provides a management system thatincludes a predetermined printing apparatus and a printing apparatusmanagement server which can communicate with a voice device managementserver and a consumable item management server, wherein thepredetermined printing apparatus is configured to transmit remainingamount information of a consumable item used in the predeterminedprinting apparatus, and the printing apparatus management servercomprises a management unit configured to manage a plurality of printingapparatuses, a first obtainment unit configured to obtain, in responseto a request from the voice device management server, information of thepredetermined printing apparatus registered, from the plurality ofprinting apparatuses, as a printing apparatus to be used in the printingapparatus management server, a first transmission unit configured totransmit, to the voice device management server, the information of thepredetermined printing apparatus obtained by the first obtainment unit,a second obtainment unit configured to obtain the remaining amountinformation transmitted from the predetermined printing apparatus, and asecond transmission unit configured to transmit the remaining amountinformation obtained by the second obtainment unit to the consumableitem management server, and voice notification to a user is performed,via a voice device configured to communicate with the voice devicemanagement server, based on the remaining amount information obtained bythe second obtainment unit, and processing for placing an order for theconsumable item is performed based on a voice instruction from the useraccepted by the voice device.

According to the present invention, an order for a consumable item whichis to be used in a printing apparatus registered in a system can beplaced by a voice instruction.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a consumable itemmanagement system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware arrangement of a terminalapparatus;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the hardware arrangement of a voicedevice;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware arrangement of a printingapparatus;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the hardware arrangement of a server;

FIG. 6 is a table showing consumable item information stored in aconsumable item management server;

FIG. 7 is a table showing the consumable item information stored in aprinting apparatus management server;

FIG. 8 is a sequence chart showing a sequence for enabling mutual accessbetween servers;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are sequence charts each showing processing forregistering a target printing apparatus;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing processing for transmitting remaining inkamount information in the printing apparatus management server;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing remaining ink amount determinationprocessing performed in the consumable item management server;

FIG. 12 is a sequence chart showing the sequence until an orderinstruction is issued to the consumable item management server; and

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing processing for deleting information ofthe printing apparatus.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference tothe attached drawings. Note, the following embodiments are not intendedto limit the scope of the claimed invention. Multiple features aredescribed in the embodiments, but limitation is not made to an inventionthat requires all such features, and multiple such features may becombined as appropriate. Furthermore, in the attached drawings, the samereference numerals are given to the same or similar configurations, andredundant description thereof is omitted.

Although Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-95984 discloses that a userwill make voice instructions to change print settings and executeprinting, it does not disclose how an order for consumable items to beused in a printing apparatus registered in a system can be placed.

According to one point of view of the present invention, an order for aconsumable item to be used in a printing apparatus registered in asystem can be placed by voice instruction.

[System Arrangement]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a consumable itemmanagement system according to an embodiment. The consumable itemmanagement system according to this embodiment is formed by a terminalapparatus 101, a consumable item management server 102, a voice devicemanagement server 103, a voice device 104, a printing apparatusmanagement server 105, and a printing apparatus 106. Note that althougheach of the voice device management server 103, the terminal apparatus101, and the printing apparatus 106 is illustrated as a single apparatusin FIG. 1 , a plurality of apparatuses may be arranged for each of theseapparatuses in this embodiment. That is, a plurality of terminalapparatuses 101, a plurality of voice device 104, and a plurality ofvoice device management servers 103 may be communicably arranged. Inaddition, a plurality of printing apparatuses 106 may be communicablyformed with the printing apparatus management server 105.

The terminal apparatus 101 is, for example, an arbitrary informationprocessing apparatus such as a smartphone, a PC (Personal Computer), atablet terminal, a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), orthe like. The voice device 104 is, for example, a smart speaker. Theprinting apparatus 106 is a printer that discharges a printing agentsuch as ink to a print medium such as a print sheet to form (print) animage on the print medium. Note that the printing apparatus 106 may bean MFP (Multi-Functional Printer) that integrally has a plurality offunctions such as a copy function, a FAX function, a print function, andthe like. Note that in this embodiment, the printing apparatus 106 isassumed to be an apparatus that performs printing by an inkjet printingmethod. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and theprinting apparatus 106 may also be an apparatus that performs printingby an electrophotographic method or a heat sublimation method.

The terminal apparatus 101 can mutually communicate with the consumableitem management server 102 via a network such as the Internet or thelike. In addition, each of the terminal apparatus 101 and the voicedevice 104 can mutually communicate with the voice device managementserver 103 via a network such as the Internet or the like. The voicedevice management server 103 is a server that provides a voice controlservice for implementing an interface for voice communication with auser, and manages the voice device 104 by associating the voice device104 with the terminal apparatus 101. That is, pieces of information of aplurality of voice devices 104 are registered in the voice devicemanagement server 103, and each voice device 104 is associated withinformation of one of the terminal apparatuses 101 and user informationof the voice control service.

The printing apparatus 106 can mutually communicate with the printingapparatus management server 105 via a network such as the Internet orthe like. The printing apparatus management server 105 is a server thatprovides a printing apparatus management service for managing theprinting apparatus 106 of each user registered in the printing apparatusmanagement server 105. That is, in the printing apparatus managementserver 105, pieces of information of a plurality of printing apparatuses106 are registered in association with corresponding pieces of userinformation. The printing apparatus management server 105 obtains, forexample, the remaining amount information of a consumable item of aprinting apparatus to manage the operating state of the printingapparatus.

The consumable item management server 102 is a server that performs,based on an instruction from the voice device management server 103,processing to place an order to a sales website (sales company) thatdeals with consumable items such as ink cartridges and the like.

In this embodiment, the forms of the terminal apparatus 101, the voicedevice 104, and the printing apparatus 106 are not particularly limitedas long as the apparatuses can be connected to the Internet. Forexample, the apparatuses may be connected to the Internet via an accesspoint (not shown). Note that the terminal apparatus 101, the voicedevice 104, and the printing apparatus 106 may be arranged to becommunicable with each other by being connected to a local network by anaccess point (not shown). Alternatively, the terminal apparatus 101, thevoice device 104, and the printing apparatus 106 may belong to differentnetwork segments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware arrangementof the terminal apparatus 101. The terminal apparatus 101 includes aninput interface 201, a CPU 202, a ROM 203, a display unit 204, a RAM205, an external storage device 206, a communication unit 207, and ashort-range wireless communication unit 208. The above-described blocksare connected to each other via, for example, an internal bus 209. Inaddition, in the arrangement of FIG. 2 , a plurality of blocks may bearranged as a single block, or a single block may be divided andarranged as two or more blocks.

The CPU 202 is a system control unit and a processor for comprehensivelycontrolling the entire terminal apparatus 101. The RAM 205 is formed by,for example, an SRAM (Static RAM) which requires a backup power supply.Note that since the RAM 205 holds data by a primary battery for databackup (not shown), it can store data such as program control variablesand the like without volatility. A memory area for storing the settinginformation, the management data, and the like of the terminal apparatus101 is arranged in the RAM 205. The RAM 205 is also used as the workmemory and the main memory of the CPU 202. The ROM 203 stores permanentdata such as control programs, data tables, OS programs, and the like tobe executed by the CPU 202. Note that in this embodiment, an applicationprogram (voice control application) for controlling the voice device 104is installed and stored in the ROM 203 of the terminal apparatus 101.Each operation of the terminal apparatus 101 according to thisembodiment is implemented by, for example, causing the CPU 202 to readout a program stored in the ROM 203 to the RAM 205 and execute theprogram.

The display unit 204 is formed by, for example, an LED (Light-EmittingDiode) or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and displays a screen basedon various kinds of display data. Note that the display unit 204 may beformed by, for example, a touchscreen display and have a function ofaccepting various kinds of input operations from the user. That is, thedisplay unit 204 is an interface for accepting data inputs and operationinstructions from the user, and may be formed by an operation panelwhich includes a physical keyboard, buttons, a touch panel, or the like.

The communication unit 207 is formed by a circuit and an antenna forperforming communication in accordance with a predetermined wirelesscommunication method. For example, the communication unit 207 canwirelessly connect to an external access point. The communication unit207 may also operate as a temporary access point. The communication unit207 can operate in accordance with a wireless communication method(Wi-Fi) of a wireless LAN in compliance with IEEE802.11 standard seriesor may operate in accordance with another wireless communication method.The short-range wireless communication unit 208 executes short-rangewireless communication with other apparatuses present within apredetermined short range of the terminal apparatus 101. Note that theshort-range wireless communication unit 208 will perform communicationby a wireless communication method different from that of thecommunication unit 207. For example, the short-range wirelesscommunication unit 208 will operate in accordance with the Bluetooth®standard.

The terminal apparatus 101 is not limited to the arrangement shown inFIG. 2 , and can appropriately include blocks corresponding to functionsexecutable by the terminal apparatus 101.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware arrangementof the voice device 104. The voice device 104 includes a loudspeaker301, a CPU 302, a ROM 303, a microphone 304, a RAM 305, an externalstorage device 306, a communication unit 307, and a short-range wirelesscommunication unit 308. The above-described blocks are connected to eachother via, for example, an internal bus 309. In addition, in thearrangement of FIG. 3 , a plurality of blocks may be arranged as asingle block, or a single block may be divided and arranged as two ormore blocks.

The loudspeaker 301 executes voice output. The CPU 302 is a systemcontrol unit and a processor for comprehensively controlling the entirevoice device 104. The ROM 303 stores various kinds of data and programssuch as control programs, data tables, an embedded OS (Operating System)program, and the like to be executed by the CPU 302. In this embodiment,each control program stored in the ROM 303 will be a target of softwareexecution control operations such as scheduling, task switching,interrupt processing, and the like performed under the management of theembedded OS stored in the ROM 303. Each operation of the voice device104 according to the embodiment is implemented by, for example, causingthe CPU 302 to read out a program stored in the ROM 303 to the RAM 305and execute the program. The microphone 304 receives sounds emitted inthe periphery of the voice device 104. For example, the microphone 304receives the voice of the user. The RAM 305 is formed by, for example, aDRAM (Dynamic RAM) which requires a backup power supply. The RAM 305 canbe used as the work memory and the main memory of the CPU 302. Theexternal storage device 306 stores application software.

The communication unit 307 is formed by a circuit and an antenna forperforming communication in accordance with a predetermined wirelesscommunication method. For example, the communication unit 307 canwirelessly connect to an external access point. The communication unit307 may also operate as a temporary access point. The communication unit307 can operate in accordance with a wireless communication method(Wi-Fi) of a wireless LAN in compliance with IEEE802.11 standard seriesor may operate in accordance with another wireless communication method.The short-range wireless communication unit 308 executes short-rangewireless communication with other apparatuses present within apredetermined short range of the voice device 104. Note that theshort-range wireless communication unit 308 will perform communicationby a wireless communication method different from that of thecommunication unit 307. For example, the short-range wirelesscommunication unit 308 will operate in accordance with the Bluetooth®standard.

The voice device 104 is not limited to the arrangement shown in FIG. 3 ,and can appropriately include blocks corresponding to functionsexecutable by the voice device 104.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware arrangementof the printing apparatus 106. FIG. 4 shows an example in which theprinting apparatus 106 is arranged as an MFP. In the printing apparatus106, the print function is implemented by a printer unit 401. Also, thescanner function is implemented by a scanner unit 402, and the storagefunction is implemented by a memory card attachment unit 403 and amemory card 404.

The printer unit 401 executes printing based on, for example, image datareceived from an external device or image data stored in the memory card404. In addition, the printer unit 401 stores pieces of consumable iteminformation such as ink information concerning a remaining ink amountand the like, sheet information concerning a remaining sheet amount andthe like, and the like. The printing apparatus 106 transmits printingapparatus status information such as this remaining ink amountinformation and the like to the printing apparatus management server105. The scanner unit 402 optically reads an original set on an originaltable (not shown), converts the read original into electronic data, andfurther converts the electronic data into data of a designated fileformat to generate image data. The scanner unit 402 will subsequentlytransmit the generated image data to an external device via a network orstore the generated image data in a storage area (not shown) such as anHDD or the like. In the printing apparatus 106, the copy function isimplemented by causing the scanner unit 402 to read an original set onthe original table and transfer the generated data to the printer unit401, and causing the printer unit 401 to print, onto a print sheet, animage based on the image data.

The memory card 404 attached to the memory card attachment unit 403stores various kinds of file data. The file data can be read out fromand be edited by an external device via a network. The file data canalso be stored in the memory card 404 from an external device via anetwork.

Furthermore, the printing apparatus 106 includes, a CPU 405, a programmemory 406, a work memory 407, a display unit 408, an operation unit409, a network communication unit 410, a network connection unit 411,and a flash memory 412. The CPU 405 is a processor for comprehensivelycontrolling the units of the printing apparatus 106. The program memory406 is formed by a ROM or the like, and stores various kinds of programcodes and an application 414 for communicating with the printingapparatus management server 105. The application 414 accesses theprinter unit 401 to obtain consumable item information such as the inkinformation, the sheet information, and the like. The work memory 407 isformed by a RAM or the like, and temporarily stores and buffers imagedata or the like at the execution of each service. Each operation of theprinting apparatus 106 according to this embodiment is implemented by,for example, causing the CPU 405 to read out a program stored in theprogram memory 406 to the work memory 407 and execute the program.

The display unit 408 is formed by, for example, an LED (Light-EmittingDiode) or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and displays a screen basedon various kinds of display data. The operation unit 409 includesswitches for the user to perform various kinds of input operations. Thenetwork communication unit 410 is connected to a network such as theInternet via the network connection unit 411, and performs various kindsof communication. Note that the network communication unit 410 has anarrangement corresponding to the medium of the network, and communicatesby using, for example, a wired LAN or wireless LAN. For example, in acase in which the network communication unit 410 supports the wired LAN,the network connection unit 411 will be a connector for connecting thecable of the wired LAN. In a case in which the network communicationunit 410 supports the wireless LAN, the network connection unit 411 willbe an antenna. Note that the network connection unit 411 may supportboth the wired LAN and the wireless LAN. In this embodiment, the networkcommunication unit 410 supports, for example, the wireless LAN, and canconnect to an access point in accordance with a wireless communicationmethod of the wireless LAN in compliance with the IEEE802.11 standardseries. The flash memory 412 is a nonvolatile memory for storing imagedata and the like received by the network communication unit 410.

The above-described blocks are connected to each other via, for example,a bus 413. In addition, in the arrangement of FIG. 4 , a plurality ofblocks may be arranged as a single block, or a single block may bedivided and arranged as two or more blocks. The printing apparatus 106is not limited to the arrangement shown in FIG. 4 , and canappropriately include blocks corresponding to functions executable bythe printing apparatus 106.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware arrangementof each of the consumable item management server 102, the voice devicemanagement server 103, and the printing apparatus management server 105.In this embodiment, assume that the servers will have a commonarrangement as shown in FIG. 5 . However, the servers may have differentarrangements in accordance with the functions of the respective servers.In addition, in this example, assume that each of the consumable itemmanagement server 102, the voice device management server 103, and theprinting apparatus management server 105 is formed by one serverapparatus (information processing apparatus). However, the servers ofthis embodiment may implement the respective functions of the servers bycausing the plurality of server apparatuses to operate in cooperationwith each other. In this specification, assume that a “server” willrefer to both an arrangement formed by a single server apparatus and anarrangement formed by a plurality of server apparatuses.

A CPU 501 is a processor for comprehensively controlling the entireapparatus in which it is incorporated. A disk device 502 stores variouskinds of files in addition to an OS, a database 513, and an applicationprogram 512 to be read out and executed by the CPU 501. An externalmedium reading unit 503 can read out information such as a file storedin an external storage medium such as an SD card or the like. A memory504 is formed by a RAM or the like, and is used for, for example,temporarily storing or buffering data by the CPU 501. Each operation ofeach server according to this embodiment is implemented by, for example,causing the CPU 501 of each server to read out a program stored in thedisk device 502 to the memory 504 and execute the program.

A display unit 505 is formed by, for example, an LED (Light-EmittingDiode) or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), and displays a screen basedon various kinds of display data. An operation unit 506 includes, forexample, a keyboard and a mouse for the user to perform various kinds ofinput operations. A network communication unit 507 is connected to anetwork such as the Internet via a network connection unit 508, andperforms various kinds of communication. Note that the networkcommunication unit 507 has an arrangement corresponding to the medium ofthe network, and communicates by using, for example, a wired LAN orwireless LAN. For example, in a case in which the network communicationunit 507 supports the wired LAN, the network connection unit 508 will bea connector for connecting the cable of the wired LAN. In a case inwhich the network communication unit 507 supports the wireless LAN, thenetwork connection unit 508 will be an antenna. Note that the networkconnection unit 508 may support both the wired LAN and the wireless LAN.A USB communication unit 510 (Universal Serial Bus) is connected tovarious kinds of peripheral apparatuses via a USB connection unit 511,and can perform various kinds of communication in compliance with theUSB standard.

The above-described blocks are connected to each other via, for example,a bus 509. In addition, in the arrangement of FIG. 5 , a plurality ofblocks may be arranged as a single block, or a single block may bedivided and arranged as two or more blocks. Each of the consumable itemmanagement server 102, the voice device management server 103, and theprinting apparatus management server 105 is not limited to thearrangement shown in FIG. 5 , and can appropriately include blockscorresponding to functions executable by each server.

Databases corresponding to the consumable item management server 102,the voice device management server 103, and the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 are constructed in the database 513. A databasecorresponding to each consumable item as shown in FIG. 6 (to bedescribed later) is constructed in the consumable item management server102. A database in which authentication information (firstauthentication information) for accessing the printing apparatusmanagement server 105, information of the terminal apparatus 101, loginuser information of the voice control service provided by the voicedevice management server 103, information of the voice device 104, andinformation of the printing apparatus 106 are associated is constructedin the voice device management server 103. A database in whichauthentication information (second authentication information) foraccessing the consumable item management server 102, information of alogin user of the printing apparatus management server 105, andinformation of the printing apparatus 106 corresponding to the loginuser are associated is constructed in the printing apparatus managementserver 105. In addition, the first authentication information stored inthe databased of the voice device management server 103 is informationissued by the printing apparatus management server 105, and it ispreferable for the printing apparatus management server 105 to alsostore the issued first authentication information in the database. Inthis embodiment, databases will be constructed in respective servers asdescribed above to implement a voice order placement system (consumableitem management system) for consumable items of each printing apparatusmanaged by a printing apparatus management system. A user who has beenregistered in the printing apparatus management system to be provided bythe printing apparatus management server 105 may be particularlyreferred to as a “login user” hereinafter. In this embodiment, the loginuser corresponds to the user of the voice device 104 and the terminalapparatus 101.

[Pre-Registration Processing]

In the consumable item management system according to this embodiment,when the remaining amount of a consumable item of the printing apparatus106 has decreased below a threshold, voice notification is performed tothe user. The user can respond to this notification to place an orderfor this consumable item by voice. In this embodiment, an ink cartridgewill be described as an example of a consumable item of the printingapparatus 106. However, other consumable items may also be used, and forexample, copy paper may be used as a consumable item of the printingapparatus 106. In addition, since an example in which an order will beplaced to a sales company to which the user has placed an order for theconsumable item once before will be described in this embodiment, a casein which the user will place a reorder will be described.

An administrator of the consumable item management system registers, inadvance, the consumable item information of the printing apparatus 106in the consumable item management server 102. FIG. 6 is a table showingan example of information registered in the database 513 of theconsumable item management server 102. Consumable item information 600includes items 601 to 605. The item 601 indicates an order ID which is avalue uniquely added to each ink cartridge attachment portion of theprinting apparatus 106. The item 602 indicates an ink color, and theitem 603 indicates a product code of the ink cartridge. Also, the item605 indicates a model name of the printing apparatus 106.

For example, information of the order ID/color/product code of each ofblack, cyan, magenta, and yellow ink cartridges attachable to theprinting apparatus 106 having a model name “AAAA” is shown in FIG. 6 .That is, the printing apparatus 106 which has the model name “AAAA” is aprinting apparatus to which ink tanks corresponding to four colors canbe attached. In addition, information of the order ID/color/product codeof each of pigment black, black, cyan, magenta, yellow, and gray inkcartridges attachable to the printing apparatus 106 having a model name“BBBB” is shown in FIG. 6 . That is, the printing apparatus 106 whichhas the model name “BBBB” is a printing apparatus to which ink tankscorresponding 6 colors can be attached. Note that there are device typesin which both a standard-capacity ink tank and a high-capacity ink tankcan be attached to the ink cartridge attachment portions of the printingapparatus 106. In such a case, a plurality of product codes will beregistered for the same order ID.

The item 604 indicates a threshold for determining the reduction in theremaining ink amount of an ink tank corresponding to an ink tankcartridge attachment portion of the printing apparatus 106, and thisthreshold is set for each order ID. Although a ratio (percentage) withrespect to a maximum capacity is used as a unit of the threshold in FIG.6 , another unit may be used as long as it is an index that indicatesthe remaining ink amount. For example, the volume (milliliter or thelike) may be used as the unit of the threshold. Since a threshold willbe set for each order ID in this embodiment, reorder placementprocessing can be executed early for, for example, highly consumed blackink by setting a higher threshold for black ink than for the thresholdsof other color inks.

The consumable item information 600 of FIG. 6 that is pre-registered inthe consumable item management server 102 by the administrator of theconsumable item management system is also registered in the database 513of the printing apparatus management server 105. In this case, as longas the correspondence relationship between the order IDs and theprinting apparatuses 106 of the consumable item information 600 can bemaintained, the data format to be registered may differ from thatregistered in the consumable item management server 102.

FIG. 7 is a table showing an example of information registered in theprinting apparatus management server 105. Consumable item information700 shown in FIG. 7 includes items 701 to 703. The item 701 indicates amodel name and corresponds to the model name of the item 605 of FIG. 6 .The item 703 indicates an order ID list. As shown in FIG. 7 , the orderIDs corresponding to the model names of the item 605 in FIG. 6 have beenlisted in the order ID list. The consumable item information 700 mayinclude information not included in the consumable item information 600,and the information of the item 702 is included in the consumable iteminformation 700 in this embodiment. The item 702 indicates informationof ink destination information. Note that “ink destination information”is information indicating the sales area (country or region) of the inkcartridge. Based on the ink destination information, the printingapparatus management server 105 can determine, for example, whether anorder for the ink cartridge attached to the printing apparatus 106 canbe placed in the consumable item management system.

[Authentication Information Registration Processing]

FIG. 8 is a sequence chart showing a sequence for enabling mutual accessbetween the voice device management server 103, the consumable itemmanagement server 102, and the printing apparatus management server 105.First, the user uses the terminal apparatus 101, which is pre-associatedwith the voice device 104 in the voice control system, to executeprocessing for obtaining, from the voice device management server 103,the first authentication information required to access the printingapparatus management server 105. That is, based on a user instruction,the terminal apparatus 101 will request the voice device managementserver 103 to obtain authorization from the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 (S801). This user instruction for making thisauthorization request may be executed on a screen provided by a localapplication installed in the terminal apparatus 101 or may be executedon a screen of a webpage provided by the voice device management server103 via a web browser.

Upon receiving an authorization request to the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 from the terminal apparatus 101, the voice devicemanagement server 103 transmits an authorization request to anauthorization endpoint of the printing apparatus management server 105(S802). The printing apparatus management server 105 that received theauthorization request will transmit authentication screen data forperforming authentication to the terminal apparatus 101 designated inthe authorization request (S803). Upon receiving the authenticationscreen data from the printing apparatus management server 105, theterminal apparatus 101 will display an authentication screen on thedisplay unit 204.

The user inputs, on the authentication screen displayed on the displayunit 204 of the terminal apparatus 101, the authentication informationof the user himself/herself registered in the printing apparatusmanagement server 105. After the authentication information has beeninput, the terminal apparatus 101 transmits the input authenticationinformation to the printing apparatus management server 105 (S804). Theauthorization request will be approved as a result of the transmissionof this authentication information. For example, a user ID and apassword which have been pre-registered to be used for logging into theprinting apparatus management system of the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 are transmitted as the authentication information.

The printing apparatus management server 105 verifies the authenticationinformation transmitted from the terminal apparatus 101. Ifauthentication succeeds as a result of the verification, the printingapparatus management server 105 will transmit a first authorization codeto the voice device management server 103 (S805). The voice devicemanagement server 103 will transmit, to a token endpoint of the printingapparatus management server 105, the authorization code received in S805(S806). Upon receiving the authorization code in S806, the printingapparatus management server 105 issues the first authenticationinformation to the voice device management server 103 (S807). The firstauthentication information is information necessary for the voice devicemanagement server 103 to access the printing apparatus management server105, and is, for example, an access token or a refresh token. Uponreceiving the first authentication information in S807, the voice devicemanagement server 103 will associate the first authenticationinformation with the information of the terminal apparatus 101 and thevoice device 104 and store the associated information in the database513 (S808).

Processing for obtaining the second authentication information which isnecessary for accessing the consumable item management server 102 fromthe printing apparatus management server 105 will be executed next. Notethat in this embodiment, it is assumed that common authenticationinformation can be used for the voice device management server 103 andthe consumable item management server 102. Hence, at the stage in whichit has become possible for the voice device management server 103 toaccess the printing apparatus management server 105, the voice devicemanagement server 103 will transmit the authorization code to theprinting apparatus management server 105 instead of the consumable itemmanagement server 102 transmitting the authorization code to theprinting apparatus management server 105. That is, after storing thefirst authentication information in S808, the voice device managementserver 103 will transmit a second authorization code to the printingapparatus management server 105 (S809).

The printing apparatus management server 105 will transmit, to theconsumable item management server 102, the second authorization codereceived from the voice device management server 103 (S810). When theauthorization processing has been normally completed in the consumableitem management server 102, the consumable item management server 102will issue and transmit the second authentication information to theprinting apparatus management server 105 (S811). The secondauthentication information is authentication information necessary foraccessing the consumable item management server 102. The printingapparatus management server 105 will associate the second authenticationinformation, which has been transmitted from the consumable itemmanagement server 102 in S811, with the first authentication informationand the login user information of the printing apparatus managementserver 105, and store the associated information in the database 513(S812). The login user information is, for example, the user ID and thepassword transmitted in S804. That is, in the database 513 of theprinting apparatus management server 105, the first authenticationinformation, the second authentication information, and the login userinformation are associated with the information of the printingapparatus 106 corresponding to the login user.

As described above, the voice device management server 103 will be ableto use the first authentication information to access the printingapparatus management server 105, and the printing apparatus managementserver 105 will be able to use the second authentication information toaccess the consumable item management server 102.

[Processing for Registering Printing Apparatus to Voice DeviceManagement Server 103]

Processing for registering a printing apparatus to the voice devicemanagement server 103 will be described next with reference to FIGS. 9Aand 9B. FIG. 9A is a sequence chart showing the processing for newlyregistering, in the voice device management server 103, a printingapparatus to be linked to the voice device management server 103. Theprocessing of FIG. 9A is performed after the first authenticationinformation is stored in the database 513 in S808. The voice devicemanagement server 103 will use the first authentication information toinquire about the printing apparatus registered in the printingapparatus management server 105 (S901). Based on the firstauthentication information transmitted from the voice device managementserver 103, the printing apparatus management server 105 specifies thelogin user of the printing apparatus management server 105. That is, theuser account that is logged into the printing apparatus managementserver 105 is specified. Subsequently, the printing apparatus managementserver 105 obtains the information of the target printing apparatus 106registered and linked to the specified login user (S902).

The target printing apparatus 106 here is a printing apparatus that isregistered in the printing apparatus management server 105 by beinglinked to the login user of the printing apparatus management server105, and is a printing apparatus that is registered as the printingapparatus to be actually used in the service of the printing apparatusmanagement server 105. Hence, if there are a plurality of printingapparatuses registered in the printing apparatus management server 105,the information of the printing apparatus registered as a target whichis to use the service of the printing apparatus management server 105can be obtained from the information of the plurality of registeredprinting apparatuses. The information of the target printing apparatus106 to be obtained in S902 includes identification information such as aserial ID and the like of the printing apparatus, the model name of theprinting apparatus, and the destination information of each consumableitem to be used in the printing apparatus.

In this embodiment, the target printing apparatus registered in theprinting apparatus management server 105 will basically be the targetprinting apparatus to be linked to the voice device management server103. Furthermore, in this embodiment, it is preferable for the targetprinting apparatus to be linked to the voice device management server103 to be the same as the target printing apparatus to be registered inthe consumable item management system. Hence, it is preferable todetermine whether the device type of target printing apparatustemporarily registered in the printing apparatus management server 105is a device type supported by the consumable item management serviceaccording to this embodiment. That is, in S902, it is preferable todetermine whether the device type of the target printing apparatus is adevice type supported by the consumable item management service, andobtain the information of the target printing apparatus if it isdetermined that the target printing apparatus is a supported devicetype. If it is determined that the device type of the target printingapparatus is not a supported device type, the information of the targetprinting apparatus will not be obtained.

Note that as described above, there may be a case in which a pluralityof printing apparatuses that are owned by a single login user areregistered in the printing apparatus management server 105. For example,consider a case in which a single user has registered 10 or moreprinting apparatuses in the printing apparatus management server 105. Insuch a case, timeout of the printing apparatus management server 105 mayoccur if the printing apparatus management server 105 tries to obtainthe information of all of the printing apparatuses 106. Hence, in thisembodiment, for example, the printing apparatus management server 105will set, as the target printing apparatus 106, one of the plurality ofprinting apparatuses 106 corresponding to the user. Subsequently, theprinting apparatus management server 105 will obtain the information ofthe set target printing apparatus. However, a plurality of the targetprinting apparatuses 106 may be set to be registered if timeout is not aproblem. The selection of the target printing apparatus 106 can be setbased on, for example, the setting operation performed by the login userof the printing apparatus management server 105. Alternatively, it maybe arranged so that the information of the plurality of printingapparatuses 106 registered in the printing apparatus management server105 will be obtained at once as the information of the target printingapparatuses 106 within an obtainable range such as within a timeout timeor the like.

If the target printing apparatus 106 is registered in the consumableitem management system according to this embodiment when the targetprinting apparatus 106 is already registered in another service forautomatic order placement of a consumable item here, duplicate ordersfor ink cartridges may be placed against the intention of the user.Hence, in this embodiment, in S903, the printing apparatus managementserver 105 will determine, based on the registration history of eachprinting apparatus 106, whether the target printing apparatus 106 isregistered in another consumable item order placement system. Note that“another consumable item order placement system” in this example refersto a service that obtains, in a manner similar to the consumable itemorder placement system according to this embodiment, the remainingamount information of a consumable item from the printing apparatusmanagement server 105.

If it is determined that the target printing apparatus is not registeredin another consumable item order placement system, the printingapparatus management server 105 will determine to set the obtainedinformation of the target printing apparatus 106 as the targetinformation to be subsequently transmitted to the voice devicemanagement server 103 in S904. On the other hand, if it is determinedthat the target printing apparatus is registered in another consumableitem order placement system, the printing apparatus management server105 will determine not to set the obtained information of the targetprinting apparatus 106 as the target information to be subsequentlytransmitted to the voice device management server 103 in S904. Byproviding such a determination arrangement, this embodiment will be ableto prevent a state in which an order for the consumable item is placedtwice. That is, it will be possible to prevent duplicate orders for thesame consumable item from being placed in two or more services based onthe remaining amount information of the consumable item obtained fromthe same printing apparatus management server 105. The followingdetermination is further performed in S903. The printing apparatusmanagement server 105 collates the obtained information of the targetprinting apparatus 106 with the consumable item information 700 of FIG.7 . Subsequently, the printing apparatus management server 105determines whether the obtained information on the model name and theink destination of the target printing apparatus 106 matches theinformation in the consumable item information 700 of FIG. 7 . If it isdetermined that the obtained information matches the information in theconsumable item information, the printing apparatus management server105 will determine to set the obtained information of the targetprinting apparatus 106 as the target information to be subsequentlytransmitted to the voice device management server 103 in S904. On theother hand, if it is determined that the obtained information does notmatch, the printing apparatus management server 105 will determine notto set the obtained information of the target printing apparatus 106 asthe target information to be subsequently transmitted to the voicedevice management server 103 in S904.

In this manner, according to this embodiment, the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 obtains, in response to the inquiry from the voicedevice management server 103, the information of the printing apparatus106 corresponding to the login user of the printing apparatus managementserver 105. Thereafter, based on the obtained information, determinationas to whether the target printing apparatus is already registered inanother consumable item order placement system and determination as towhether the information of the target printing apparatus matches theinformation stored in advance in the consumable item information 700 areexecuted. Subsequently, whether to set the obtained information astarget information to be transmitted in response to the inquiry from thevoice device management server 103 is determined based on thedetermination result.

The printing apparatus management server 105 will transmit, to the voicedevice management server 103, the serial ID and the corresponding orderID list of the target printing apparatus 106 set as the targetinformation to be transmitted in response to the inquiry from the voicedevice management server 103 (S904). On the other hand, if it isdetermined not to set the obtained information as the target informationto be transmitted in response to the inquiry from the voice devicemanagement server 103, the printing apparatus management server 105 willnot transmit the serial ID and the corresponding order ID list describedabove. If it is determined that the serial ID and the corresponding IDlist to be transmitted are not present, the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 will transmit information indicating the absenceof the target printing apparatus 106 to be registered to the voicedevice management server 103.

The voice device management server 103 will receive and store the serialID and the corresponding order ID list of the target printing apparatus106 transmitted from the printing apparatus management server 105(S905). In step S905, the voice device management server 103 associatesthe information of the terminal apparatus 101 and the voice device 104,the first authentication information, and the serial ID and thecorresponding order ID list of the target printing apparatus 106 andstores the associated information in the database 513. This may beperformed by updating the information stored in the database 513 inS808. As a result of the processing of FIG. 9A, the information of theterminal apparatus 101, the information of the voice device 104, thefirst authentication information, and the information of the targetprinting apparatus 106 will be associated with each other in thedatabase 513 of the voice device management server 103.

Processing for changing the target printing apparatus will be describednext. FIG. 9B is a sequence chart showing processing for registering thechanged target printing apparatus 106 in the voice device managementserver 103.

In a case in which the login user has registered the plurality ofprinting apparatuses 106 in the printing apparatus management server105, the user may change the target printing apparatus 106 in theprinting apparatus management server 105. In such a case, the printingapparatus management server 105 will obtain the information of thechanged target printing apparatus 106 (S911). Then, in a manner similarto S903, the printing apparatus management server 105 will determine,based on the obtained information of the target printing apparatus 106,whether the changed target printing apparatus is already registered inanother consumable item order placement system and whether the obtainedinformation matches that in the consumable item information 700 (S912).Subsequently, based on the determination results, the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 will determine whether to set the obtainedinformation as the target information to be transmitted to the voicedevice management server 103.

The printing apparatus management server 105 will transmit, in a mannersimilar to S904, the serial ID and the corresponding order ID list ofthe target printing apparatus 106 determined to be set as the targetinformation to be transmitted to the voice device management server 103(S913). Subsequently, the voice device management server 103 willreceive, in a manner similar to S905, the serial ID and thecorresponding order ID list of the target printing apparatus 106transmitted from the printing apparatus management server 105, and storethe received information in the database (S914). As a result, theinformation stored in the database 513 in S905 is updated.

In this manner, according to this embodiment, in a case in which thelogin user of the voice device management server 103 has changed thetarget printing apparatus 106 among the plurality of printingapparatuses, this change can be reflected in the voice device managementserver 103.

[Remaining Ink Amount Information Transmission Processing]

A procedure in which the printing apparatus management server 105transmits the remaining ink amount information obtained from theprinting apparatus 106 to the consumable item management server 102 willbe described next with reference to FIG. 10 .

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the processing in which the printingapparatus management server 105 transmits the remaining ink amountinformation obtained from printing apparatus 106 to the consumable itemmanagement server 102. The processing of FIG. 10 is implemented by, forexample, causing the CPU 501 of the printing apparatus management server105 to execute a program. In addition, the processing of FIG. 10 can bestarted at a timing at which the printing apparatus 106 has executedprint processing, a timing at which the printing apparatus managementserver 105 has obtained the remaining ink amount from the printingapparatus 106, or a predetermined time.

The CPU 501 determines whether the remaining ink amount information hasbeen received from the printing apparatus 106 (step S1001). The processof step S1001 is repeated until it is determined that the remaining inkamount information has been received. Note that the serial ID of theprinting apparatus 106 is included in the remaining ink amountinformation received from the printing apparatus 106. When it isdetermined that the remaining ink amount information has been received,the CPU 501 will refer to the database 513 based on the serial ID of theprinting apparatus 106 included in the remaining ink amount information,and obtain the login user information stored in S812 (step S1002).

Next, the CPU 501 determines whether the second authenticationinformation corresponding to the login information obtained in stepS1002 is present (step S1003). If it is determined that the secondauthentication information is present, the CPU 501 will use the secondauthentication information to transmit, to the consumable itemmanagement server 102, the serial ID and the remaining ink amountinformation of each order ID corresponding to the serial ID receivedfrom the printing apparatus 106 (step S1004). Subsequently, theprocessing of FIG. 10 ends. On the other hand, if it is determined thatthe second authentication information is absent in step S1003 (stepS1003), it will be determined that the printing apparatus is theprinting apparatus 106 which is not registered in the voice devicemanagement server 103, and the processing of FIG. 10 will be endedwithout executing the information transmission to the consumable itemmanagement server 102.

In this manner, according to this embodiment, the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 can execute control so as not to transmit, to theconsumable item management server 102, the remaining ink amountinformation of the printing apparatus 106 which is not registered in thevoice device management server 103.

[Remaining Ink Amount Notification Determination Processing]

The procedure of processing in which the consumable item managementserver 102 which received the remaining ink amount information from theprinting apparatus management server 105 determines the remaining inkamount and transmits the remaining ink amount information to the voicedevice management server 103 will be described next with reference toFIG. 11 .

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the processing in which the consumableitem management server 102, which received the remaining ink amountinformation from the printing apparatus management server 105,determines the remaining ink amount and transmits the remaining inkamount information to the voice device management server 103. Theprocessing of FIG. 11 is implemented by, for example, causing the CPU501 of the printing apparatus management server 105 to execute aprogram.

The CPU 501 determines whether the remaining ink amount information hasbeen received from the printing apparatus management server 105 (stepS1101). The process of step S1101 is repeated until it is determinedthat the remaining ink amount information has been received. When it isdetermined that the remaining ink amount information has been received,the CPU 501 will perform the subsequent processes for each order IDincluded in the received remaining ink amount information (step S1102).That is, the processes from step S1102 to step S1106 are repetitivelyexecuted for the number of ink cartridges of a plurality of ink colors.

The CPU 501 obtains, from the consumable item information 600 of FIG. 6, the threshold of the remaining ink amount corresponding to the orderID (step S1103). Subsequently, the CPU 501 determines whether theremaining ink amount is below the threshold (step S1104). If it isdetermined that the remaining ink amount is below the threshold (lessthan the threshold), the CPU 501 will transmit, to the voice devicemanagement server 103, the serial ID, the ink color, the order ID, theremaining ink amount information, and a notification flag representingthat the user will be notified via the voice device 104 (step S1105).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S1104 that the remainingink amount is not below the threshold (the threshold or more), the CPU501 will transmit the serial ID, the ink color, the order ID, and theremaining ink amount information to the voice device management server103 (step S1106). In this case, it may be arranged so a notificationflag representing that the user will not be notified via the voicedevice 104 will be transmitted.

The processes described above are repetitively executed for the numberof order IDs (the number of ink cartridges) included in the remainingink amount information received from the printing apparatus managementserver 105. When the processes have been performed for all of the orderIDs, the processing of FIG. 11 ends.

[Voice Notification Processing and Order Placement Processing]

A procedure of processing from when the voice device management server103 notifies the user about the reduction in the remaining ink amountuntil the voice device management server 103 instructs the consumableitem management server 102 to place an order will be described next withreference to FIG. 12 .

FIG. 12 is a sequence chart showing a sequence from when the voicedevice management server 103 notifies the user of the reduction in theremaining ink amount via the voice device until the voice devicemanagement server 103 instructs the consumable item management server102 to place an order.

First, the voice device management server 103 receives the serial ID,the ink color, the order ID, and the remaining ink amount informationfrom the consumable item management server 102. Then, the voice devicemanagement server 103 stores these received pieces of information as theremaining ink amount information of the ink cartridges of thecorresponding ink colors in the printing apparatus 106 having thecorresponding serial ID (S1201). Note that in a case in which theremaining ink amount information is already stored, the remaining inkamount information is updated by the remaining ink amount informationnewly received in S1201. The remaining ink amount information stored inS1201 can be used as display data indicating the values of the remainingink amounts of the printing apparatus 106 and confirmable by the user onthe terminal apparatus 101, and can be transmitted to the terminalapparatus 101.

In a case in which the remaining ink amount information received fromthe consumable item management server 102 includes a notification flagrepresenting that user notification will be performed, the voice devicemanagement server 103 will generate message data to be used in thenotification of the user via the voice device 104 (S1202). Subsequently,the voice device management server 103 transmits the generated messagedata to the voice device 104 (S1203). For example, message data to beused in notifying the user of a message with a content such as “Theremaining ink amount of . . . has become low. Would you like to buy it?”A notification word such as “cyan” or the like can be inserted in theportion of “ . . . ” based on the ink color information received fromthe consumable item management server 102.

The voice device 104 holds the message data transmitted from the voicedevice management server 103. Subsequently, the user can inquire thevoice device 104 about the contents of the notification by asking “Whatis this notification about?” (S1204). Upon receiving the inquiry, thevoice device 104 will play back the message by outputting vocal soundsbased on the held message data from the loudspeaker 301 (S1205).

Upon listening to the message, the user will make a voice instruction bysaying, for example, “Buy cyan” in response to the message played backin S1205 (S1206). The voice device 104 transmits, to the voice devicemanagement server 103, the voice data indicating the contents of thespeech of the user who made the voice input via the microphone 304(S1207).

The voice device management server 103 performs ASR (Automatic SpeechRecognition) processing to convert the voice data indicating thecontents of the speech of the user into text. Then, based on the textdata, the voice device management server 103 determines the operation tobe performed by performing NLU (Natural Language Understanding)processing. For example, if the text data is text data instructing thepurchase of cyan ink, the order placement instruction processing forcyan ink will be determined as the operation to be performed.Subsequently, the voice device management server 103 will transmit,together with the order ID, an order placement instruction for, forexample, a cyan ink tank to the consumable item management server 102(S1208).

Based on the order ID transmitted in S1208, the consumable itemmanagement server 102 will specify the product code of the correspondingink from the consumable item information 600 of FIG. 6 , and execute theorder placement processing (S1209). Note that the order placementprocessing may be executed in the consumable item management server 102or may be executed by placing an order to an external sales website.

This embodiment described a procedure in which an inquiry to the user isperformed via the voice device 104 when the remaining ink amount hasbecome below a threshold, and an order for the ink cartridge of thecorresponding color is placed when the user has instructed the placementof the order. Here, it may also be arranged so that the user will haveset, in advance, an automatic order placement setting in the terminalapparatus 101. If the automatic order placement setting has beenenabled, the processes of S1202 to S1207 are skipped in the sequence ofFIG. 12 . In such a case, the voice device management server 103 maygenerate message data expressing, for example, “The ink cartridge forcyan ink has been ordered” and transmit the generated message data tothe voice device 104. Such an arrangement will allow the user torecognize that an order has been automatically placed.

As described above, in this embodiment, the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 can manage the target printing apparatus 106 inthe voice device management server 103 by causing the voice devicemanagement server 103 to register the target printing apparatus 106.Subsequently, when the remaining ink amount has decreased, an inquiry tothe user of the terminal apparatus 101 can be performed via the voicedevice 104, and an order for a new ink cartridge can be placed by theconsumable item management server 102 automatically or based on userinstruction.

[Processing for Deleting Information of Printing Apparatus]

Processing for deleting the information of a printing apparatus will bedescribed next. In a case in which a plurality of printing apparatusesare managed under a single login user in the printing apparatusmanagement server 105, the login user may make an operation to delete anarbitrary printing apparatus among this plurality of printingapparatuses. In such a case, the arbitrary printing apparatus will falloutside the management of the printing apparatus management server 105.The procedure for also deleting the information of the printingapparatus 106 from the voice device management server 103 when the loginuser has deleted the printing apparatus 106 from the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 will be described hereinafter with reference toFIG. 13 .

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing processing for deleting the informationof the printing apparatus 106, which has been deleted from the printingapparatus management server 105, from the voice device management server103. The processing of FIG. 13 will be implemented by, for example,causing the CPU 501 of the voice device management server 103 to executea program.

The CPU 501 obtains the information, for example, the serial IDs of allof the printing apparatuses 106 registered in the database 513 (stepS1301). The subsequent processes are performed for each obtained serialID (step S1302). That is, the processes from step S1302 to step S1306are repetitively executed for the number of serial IDs that have beenobtained.

Based on the obtained serial ID of the printing apparatus 106, the CPU501 will use the first authentication information to inquire theprinting apparatus management server 105 about the information of theregistered printing apparatus 106 (step S1303). Upon receiving theinquiry, the printing apparatus management server 105 confirms whetherthe printing apparatus 106 corresponding to the serial ID is present asa registered printing apparatus in the printing apparatus managementserver 105, and transmits the result to the voice device managementserver 103.

Based on the result transmitted from the printing apparatus managementserver 105, the voice device management server 103 will determinewhether the printing apparatus 106 corresponding to the serial ID ispresent as a registered printing apparatus in the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 (step S1304). If it is determined that theprinting apparatus 106 corresponding to the serial ID is present as aregistered printing apparatus, the voice device management server 103will instruct the printing apparatus management server 105 to transmitthe remaining ink amount information of the printing apparatus 106corresponding to the serial ID to the consumable item management server102 (step S1305). Upon receiving this instruction, the printingapparatus management server 105 will make a remaining ink amount inquiryto the printing apparatus 106, and execute the processing of FIG. 10 .Here, it may also be arranged so that the remaining ink amountinformation received in the past in step S1001 and stored in theprinting apparatus management server 105 will be transmitted to theconsumable item management server 102 without making the remaining inkamount inquiry to the printing apparatus 106. On the other hand, if itis determined in step S1304 that the printing apparatus corresponding tothe serial ID is not present as a registered printing apparatus, thevoice device management server 103 will delete, from the database 513,the information of the printing apparatus 106 corresponding to theserial ID (step S1306).

The processes described above are repetitively executed for the numberof obtained serial IDs. When the processes have been performed for allof the serial IDs, the processing of FIG. 13 ends. It may be arranged sothat the processing of FIG. 13 will be executed at a predeterminedfrequency, for example, at a predetermined time of day. Such anarrangement will allow the information of each printing apparatus 106registered in the voice device management server 103 and the informationof each printing apparatus 106 registered in the printing apparatusmanagement server 105 to be synchronized at an appropriate timing.

Other Embodiments

The processing of FIG. 10 described that the remaining ink amountinformation of all of the ink colors corresponding to the serial ID willbe transmitted to the consumable item management server 102 when theprinting apparatus management server 105 has received the remaining inkamount information from the printing apparatus 106. However, it may bearranged so that the remaining ink amount information will betransmitted by another arrangement.

For example, the threshold 604 of the consumable item information ofFIG. 6 may be included in the consumable item information 700 of FIG. 7held by the printing apparatus management server 105. After the processof step S1003 in FIG. 10 , determination as to whether the remaining inkamount corresponding to each order ID has become below the threshold 604may be performed. That is, the printing apparatus management server 105itself may perform the remaining ink amount threshold determination.Subsequently, only each piece of remaining ink amount informationdetermined to have become below the item 604 may be transmitted to theconsumable item management server 102 in step S1004. Such an arrangementwill allow the frequency of transmission to the consumable itemmanagement server 102 to be reduced, thus allowing the communicationtraffic on the network to be suppressed.

In addition, after the process of step S1003 of FIG. 10 , the amount ofdecrease may be determined from a result of comparison between theremaining ink amount corresponding to each order ID and the remainingink amount received in the preceding step S1001. As a result of thedetermination, only the remaining ink amount that has been determined tohave decreased by a predetermined amount will be transmitted to theconsumable item management server 102 in step S1004. Such an arrangementwill allow the frequency of transmission to the consumable itemmanagement server 102 to be reduced, thus allowing the communicationtraffic on the network to be suppressed.

Also, in a case in which it is arranged so as to reduce the frequency oftransmission to the consumable item management server 102 in the mannerdescribed above, it may be arranged so that only the process of stepS1105 will be performed without performing the processes of steps S1103,S1104, and S1106 in the processing performed after the process of stepS1102 of FIG. 11 in the consumable item management server 102. Inaddition, it may be arranged so that the printing apparatus managementserver 105 can select to determine a transmission mode between a mode inwhich the remaining ink amount information of all of the ink colors willbe transmitted from the printing apparatus management server 105 and amode for reducing the frequency of transmission in the manner describedabove. In such a case, it will be arranged so that the printingapparatus management server 105 will transmit information about whichtransmission mode has been selected to the consumable item managementserver 102. The consumable item management server 102 will control theexecution of the processes of steps S1103, S1104, and S1106 of FIG. 11in accordance with the selected transmission mode.

Furthermore, the remaining ink amount information to be transmitted fromthe printing apparatus management server 105 to the consumable itemmanagement server 102 may be a statistical value (for example, anaverage value) of pieces of remaining ink amount information obtained aplurality of times from the printing apparatus 106 in step S1001 of FIG.10 . Such an arrangement will allow the determination accuracy to beimproved when the remaining ink amount is to be compared to a threshold.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible toimplement a consumable item management system that allows voicenotification based on the consumable item information of a printingapparatus managed by the printing apparatus management server 105 andorder placement of a consumable item in correspondence with theremaining amount of the consumable item.

Other Embodiments

Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by acomputer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computerexecutable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on astorage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform thefunctions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/orthat includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or moreof the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by thecomputer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out andexecuting the computer executable instructions from the storage mediumto perform the functions of one or more of the above-describedembodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform thefunctions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). Thecomputer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processingunit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network ofseparate computers or separate processors to read out and execute thecomputer executable instructions. The computer executable instructionsmay be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or thestorage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or moreof a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM),a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as acompact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™),a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.

While the present invention has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of thefollowing claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent structures andfunctions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No.2020-153176, filed Sep. 11, 2020, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A management system that includes a predeterminedprinting apparatus and a printing apparatus management server which cancommunicate with a voice device management server and a consumable itemmanagement server, wherein the predetermined printing apparatus isconfigured to transmit remaining amount information of a consumable itemused in the predetermined printing apparatus, and the printing apparatusmanagement server comprises: a memory containing instructions and aprocessor for executing the instructions to operate as: a managementunit configured to manage a plurality of printing apparatuses; a firstobtainment unit configured to obtain, in response to a request from thevoice device management server, information of the predeterminedprinting apparatus registered, from the plurality of printingapparatuses, as a printing apparatus to be used in the printingapparatus management server; a first transmission unit configured totransmit, to the voice device management server, the information of thepredetermined printing apparatus obtained by the first obtainment unit;a second obtainment unit configured to obtain the remaining amountinformation transmitted from the predetermined printing apparatus; and asecond transmission unit configured to transmit the remaining amountinformation obtained by the second obtainment unit to the consumableitem management server, wherein voice notification to a user isperformed, via a voice device configured to communicate with the voicedevice management server, based on the remaining amount informationobtained by the second obtainment unit, and processing for placing anorder for the consumable item is performed based on a voice instructionfrom the user accepted by the voice device.
 2. The system according toclaim 1, wherein the printing apparatus management server furtherexecutes instructions to operate as a selecting unit configured toselect, as the predetermined printing apparatus from the plurality ofprinting apparatuses, a printing apparatus registered as a printingapparatus to be used in a service provided by the printing apparatusmanagement server.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein theprinting apparatus management server further executes instructions tooperate as a changing unit configured to change the predeterminedprinting apparatus, and the first obtainment unit obtains information ofa printing apparatus changed by the changing unit, and the firsttransmission unit transmits the obtained information of the printingapparatus to the voice device management server.
 4. The system accordingto claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus management server furtherexecutes instructions to operate as a determination unit configured todetermine whether information of the predetermined printing apparatus isto be transmitted to the voice device management server, and the firsttransmission unit transmits, to the voice device management server, theinformation of the predetermined printing apparatus determined to betransmitted by the determination unit.
 5. The system according to claim4, wherein the determination unit determines, based on destinationinformation of the consumable item, whether to transmit the informationof the predetermined printing apparatus to the voice device managementserver.
 6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the information ofthe predetermined printing apparatus transmitted by the firsttransmission unit includes identification information of thepredetermined printing apparatus.
 7. The system according to claim 6,wherein the information of the predetermined printing apparatustransmitted by the first transmission unit includes information to beused to place an order for the consumable item of the predeterminedprinting apparatus.
 8. The system according to claim 1, wherein theprinting apparatus management server further executes instructions tooperate as: a third transmission unit configured to transmit, in a casein which an authorization request is received from a terminal apparatus,screen data for displaying a screen to accept user information to theterminal apparatus, and the terminal apparatus further comprises amemory containing instructions and a processor for executing theinstructions to operate as: a fourth transmission unit configured totransmit user information accepted via the screen to the printingapparatus management server, and the printing apparatus managementserver further executes instructions to operate as: an authenticationunit configured to authenticate the user information transmitted by thefourth transmission unit, and wherein in a case in which the userinformation has been authenticated by the authentication unit, the voicedevice management server will be able to access the printing apparatusmanagement server.
 9. The system according to claim 8, wherein theauthentication unit issues, to the voice device management server, firstauthentication information to be used to access the printing apparatusmanagement server.
 10. The system according to claim 9, wherein theprinting apparatus management server further executes instructions tooperate as a storage unit configured to store the first authenticationinformation and the user information by associating the firstauthentication information with the user information.
 11. The systemaccording to claim 10, wherein the printing apparatus management serverfurther executes instructions to operate as a reception unit configuredto receive, from the consumable item management server after theauthentication by the authentication unit, second authenticationinformation to be used to access the consumable item management server.12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the reception unitreceives the second authentication information from the consumable itemmanagement server by transmitting an authorization code received fromthe voice device management server to the consumable item managementserver.
 13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the secondtransmission unit uses the second authentication information totransmit, to the consumable item management server, the remaining amountinformation obtained by the second obtainment unit.
 14. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein whether the remaining amount informationis less than a threshold is determined by the consumable item managementserver which obtained the remaining amount information from the printingapparatus management server.
 15. The system according to claim 1,wherein the printing apparatus management server further executesinstructions to operate as executes instructions to operate as a fifthtransmission unit configured to transmit, to the voice device managementserver, information indicating whether a printing apparatus managed bythe voice device management server is managed by the management unit.16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the management systemincludes a terminal apparatus, and the terminal apparatus furthercomprises a memory containing instructions and a processor for executingthe instructions to operate as: a setting unit configured to set, in thevoice device management server, one of processing to place an order forthe consumable item based on a voice instruction from the user and theprocessing to place the order for the consumable item without the voiceinstruction from the user, and in a case in which the processing toplace the order for the consumable item based on the voice instructionfrom the user has been set by the setting unit, the consumable itemmanagement server performs the processing to place the order for theconsumable item based on the voice instruction from the user.
 17. Thesystem according to claim 16, wherein in a case in which the processingto place the order for the consumable item without the voice instructionfrom the user has been set by the setting unit, the consumable itemmanagement server performs the processing to place the order for theconsumable item without the voice instruction from the user.
 18. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein the consumable item includes ink.19. A method to be executed in a management system that includes apredetermined printing apparatus and a printing apparatus managementserver which can communicate with a voice device management server and aconsumable item management server, wherein the predetermined printingapparatus is configured to transmit remaining amount information of aconsumable item used in the predetermined printing apparatus, and in theprinting apparatus management server, a plurality of printingapparatuses are managed; wherein information of the predeterminedprinting apparatus registered as a printing apparatus to be used in theprinting apparatus management server is obtained, in response to arequest from the voice device management server, from the plurality ofprinting apparatuses; the obtained information of the predeterminedprinting apparatus is transmitted to the voice device management server;the remaining amount information transmitted from the predeterminedprinting apparatus is obtained; and the obtained remaining amountinformation is transmitted to the consumable item management server,wherein voice notification to a user is performed, via a voice deviceconfigured to communicate with the voice device management server, basedon the obtained remaining amount information, and processing for placingan order for the consumable item is performed based on a voiceinstruction from the user accepted by the voice device.
 20. A managementserver that can communicate with a voice device management server and aconsumable item management server, comprising: a memory containinginstructions and a processor for executing the instructions to operateas a: a management unit configured to manage a plurality of printingapparatuses; a first obtainment unit configured to obtain, in responseto a request from the voice device management server, information of apredetermined printing apparatus registered, from the plurality ofprinting apparatuses, as a printing apparatus to be used in theconsumable item management server; a first transmission unit configuredto transmit, to the voice device management server, the information ofthe predetermined printing apparatus obtained by the first obtainmentunit; a second obtainment unit configured to obtain remaining amountinformation, of a consumable item, which is transmitted from thepredetermined printing apparatus and to be used in the predeterminedprinting apparatus; and a second transmission unit configured totransmit the remaining amount information obtained by the secondobtainment unit to the consumable item management server, wherein voicenotification to a user is performed, via a voice device configured tocommunicate with the voice device management server, based on theremaining amount information obtained by the second obtainment unit, andprocessing for placing an order for the consumable item is performedbased on a voice instruction from the user accepted by the voice device.